NRI/Collaborative Research: Robust Design and Reliable Autonomy for Transforming Modular Hybrid Rigid-Soft Robots

软机器人是一项很有前途的探索任务技术，在解开生物的秘密和创造适应性强、多用途、对人类友好的机器人方面显示出巨大的潜力。另一方面，刚性机器人在精度和易于控制方面具有许多优点。在这个项目中考虑的新型混合机器人设计将结合这两种技术，以提供两者的优势。这项拨款支持研究产生与模块化设计和可靠的人机协作相关的新知识，使用这种混合设计范式。新的模块化机器人将能够适应新的环境，在不同的地形上移动，并在各种环境条件下工作。该项目将提高机器人在搜索和救援、检查、监视和侦察等困难地形上的探测能力。新的机器人能力也将有利于未来的外星任务。该项目包括为本科生提供夏季研究机会和为K-12学生提供教育推广活动，以支持软机器人教育。这项拨款支持的研究将通过创造新颖和混合（结合硬和软元素）物理硬件设计来抵消每种单独技术的局限性，从而显著推进软机器人理论和实践的最新技术。研究任务旨在推进非并行人机团队的无缝集成和操作，并在两个推力中对齐。第一个推力考虑了极端环境的模块化设计，使用由可逆、完全密封的永磁连接器连接的低自由度模块。模块之间通过无线协议进行通信，以实现分布式控制算法。通过动态建模和仿真，发现了一种基于学习中心模式生成器的混合运动策略。该项目还为仿生、拓扑可重构软机器人创建了运动规划算法。第二个重点是可靠的非配置人机协作，包括高级远程操作、减轻模块故障的拓扑转换策略、基于故障诊断技术的自动步态重新选择，以及使功能模块使非功能模块失效的共识决策系统。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Soft robots are a promising technology for exploration tasks and have shown great potential for unlocking the secrets of biological creatures and creating adaptable, versatile, and human-friendly robots. On the other hand, rigid robots offer many advantages in terms of precision and ease of control. The novel hybrid robot design considered in this project will combine these two technologies to provide the advantages of both. This grant supports research to produce new knowledge related to modular design and reliable human-robot collaboration using this hybrid design paradigm. The new modular robots will be able to adapt to new environments, move across varied terrains, and operate in a wide variety of environmental conditions. This project will result in improved robotic capability for exploration of difficult terrains such as those found during search and rescue, inspection, surveillance, and reconnaissance. The new robot capabilities will also benefit future extra-terrestrial missions. The project includes summer research opportunities for undergraduate students and educational outreach activities to K-12 students to support soft robotics education.The research supported by this grant will significantly advance the state-of-the-art in the theory and practice of soft robots by creating novel and hybrid (incorporating both stiff and soft elements) physical hardware designs to offset limitations of each individual technology. The research tasks are aimed at advancing the seamless integration and operation of non-collocated human-robot teams and are aligned in two thrusts. The first thrust considers modular design for extreme environments using low-degree-of freedom modules connected by reversible, completely sealed permanent magnet connectors. Modules communicate with each other via wireless protocols to enable distributed control algorithms. Dynamic modeling and simulation are used to discover a hybrid locomotion strategy based on a learning central pattern generator. The project also creates motion planning algorithms for bioinspired, topologically reconfigurable soft robots. The second thrust focuses on reliable non-collocated human robot collaboration, including high-level teleoperation, topological transformation strategies to mitigate module failures, automatic gait re-selection based on fault diagnosis techniques, and a consensus decision-making system to enable functional modules to disable nonfunctional ones.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.